Bhopal: 6 lakh poor not getting foodgrain from PDS

BHOPAL: The government admitted in the Vidhan Sabha on Monday that around 6 lakh poor in the state are not getting foodgrain from PDS shops.

Raising the issue during the Question Hour, MLA Dinesh Rai said that a large number of families who were in the BPL list and were entitled to get food grains through PDS, were being denied the benefit. Rai said that they are not getting food grains for the past six months.

In his reply, minister for food and civil supplies Om Prakash Dhurve said that the Union government provides food grains to be distributed through PDS for only up to a maximum of 75 per cent of a state’s population. Accordingly, Madhya Pradesh gets food grains for 5.30 crore persons while the number of entitled beneficiaries in higher.

Dhurve said that the state government, at its own level, arranges food grains for persons who do not get PDS food grains despite being entitled to it. He said that they will start getting food grains within a month. Congress members strongly protested BPL families not getting food grains through PDS.